Rating:  Summary: Self indulgent and annoying beyond tolerance ZERO STARS Review: ...Funny? When did cynicism and ...arrogance displace wit and insight in American comedy? If you think insulting anyone around is a sign of wit you have found your bible. A weak author, without charm or grasp of the language. If airing the intimacies of family and friends in an insulting and exploitative way is your description of charm then get ready to be smitten. It'll make a good read in between episodes of Temptation Island and American Idol...
Rating:  Summary: No, funny as in funny. And yes, weird. Review: One of the most consistently rewarding humorous essayists working the field today, Mr. Sedaris is just a damn funny Yankee. His warmth and conspiratorial tone draw a reader in, and by the time you clue into how strange is the thing he's relating, well then it's just too late. You're trapped, late at night in your living room, with the guy who spent too much time developing protective coloration in high school to assume his role as class clown. Nice work.
Rating:  Summary: Somebody help me....my sides have split open! Review: OH MY GOD...that has to unquestionably be the most amusing book ever to be written by an actual member of our own species! How can such a man exist?! Sedaris is filled with a sense of humor and wit that cannot possibly be exaggerated. He has lived life in the most twistedly fantastic of senses and brings out the best of himself and everyone who reads this book. He understands something from each and every one of us and does not care what opinions he induces from people; he'll do his damn well best to write about those things people know about but don't sometimes say while baring his life and soul to us. This is a spectacularily unexpurgated edition of the book of not just his life, but ours, and it's wonderful. He makes his experiences on Speed one of the most splendid events I could ever imagine going through: "`I'm thinking of parceling off portions of my brain,` I once told her. `I'm not talking about having anything surgically removed, I'd just like to divide it into lots and lease it out so that people can say `I've got a house in Raleigh, a cottage in Myrtle Beach, and a little hideaway inside a visionary's head.` Her bored expression suggested the questionable value of my mental real estate." Sedaris is not only a master at self-deprecating humor but he manages to strip his family of their protection and cover of normalcy as well whilst successfully expressing their mutual bonds as a clearly deep and affectionate family who warms your heart: "My mother was, for the most part, delighted with my brother and regarded him with the bemused curiosity of a brood hen discovering she has hatched a completely different species. 'I think it was very nice of Paul to give me this vase,' she once said, arranging a bouquet of wildflowers into the skull-shaped bong my brother had left on the dining-room table. 'It's non-traditional, but that's Rooster's way. He's a free spirit, and we're lucky to have him.'" It's this funny, ALL THE WAY, people. Articulate, brutally honest, and blatantly hilarious, you'll find no better. The review done by Amazon.com really helps in describing what this book will give you as well. You really can't go wrong. Reap the benefits and GET IT!!!
Rating:  Summary: BOOM! POP! POW! Review: This book is a pretty darn good read...quite funny even. I really like reading it on the bus because the essays are just long enough to get through in one trip. For some reason I can really relate to his cynicism; it takes a real talent to despise much of the world and still be happy. It also take real talent to write about the biggest turd ever...
Rating:  Summary: Great! Review: I usually read about history or political science, but needing a break from it all I picked up Me Talk Pretty One Day. Anyway, it's a sure thing. Very witty and very funny.
Rating:  Summary: Great book Review: What a funny book! Sedaris has a way to entice the reader and hold their attention. He speaks of his childhood anf family life, joking about how disfunctional they were. Each chapter is another story from Sedaris's life from childhood to living in Paris. I laughed out loud the whole time. I would recommmend reading Naked. It's just as good.
Rating:  Summary: You can still BUY laughter. Review: I consider myself a VERY tough cookie to crack when it comes to making me laugh via literature...but I must say, Sedaris had a walk in the park with me. I just didn't know what hit me! The prose was exquisite, the timing was precise, and the rythm was nothing short of perfect. Sedaris has brought to the concept of short story/essay writing what ketchup/mustard/chopped-onions did for the hot-dog. Sedaris has set the standard for the new generation of narrative in the English language.
Rating:  Summary: Need A Good Laugh.....Buy This Book! Review: This book was so funny I laughed so hard I cried. Forget about it reading it around other people at home, in restaurants, on a plane....they'll think you're crazy as you break out in laughter. Thank you David for a very funny book!
Rating:  Summary: Laughed Out Loud - In Public Review: I read this on two plane rides to a conference and could not help but to laugh out loud. I'm sure the other passengers thought I was absolutely nuts. I didn't care. Sedaris' style is easy and funny to read, but harder to explain. If you haven't read some of the stories, it's extremely difficult to relay them in any decent manner. Though too many to point out here - two that spring to mind are the ones having to do w/his sister Amy (on the Chicago L and at a photo shoot) and the explanation of Easter during a French class. It's a quicker read that will make you smile (and laugh out loud) the entire way through.
Rating:  Summary: Gifted Comic Insight and Timing Review: I am truly sorry I successfully ignored what I thought was just a "cute" bestseller for so long -- poignant and painful, lisping Greek American and French student David Sedaris is a genius of uncomfortably dark but ultimately kindhearted comic timing and the art of the devastating personal essay. Not every chapter forces you to put the book down every three words to recover, but the ones that do are unforgettable. Drug addicted, alcoholic "village idiot" narcissist or not, David Sedaris' dysfunctional autobiographical sanity does anything but soothe. At a time when embarrassing Americans are eating "freedom fries," highly recommended existential therapy.
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